A Shotgun Blast to the Face
by The Cannibal Sammich
Summary: The quiet, small town life of Molly Heart will never be the same after her home is attacked by a terrorist group. Taken hostage by this group of savages, will she learn to survive? Can she adapt? Only time can tell.
1. Chapter 1 - Watch for Snakes

"Molly, watch after your brother!"

The girl rolled her eyes, holding the door open while her younger brother ran out at full speed, leaping past her with a holler. "Yes ma'am," she called back while letting the door fall closed behind her, chasing after her brother. "Wait up, Izak! Geez…"

Molly followed her brother while he hopped around through the grass, leaping after insects and small creature alike in feeble attempts to catch them. The sun was high overhead today, casting rather small shadows across the flat landscape, blades of grass fanning to and fro in the mild breeze. It didn't take long for the heat to work up a thin layer of sweat of Molly's pale skin while she chased her brother around, playing games like tag and hide-and-seek - luckily, the light touch of the wind kept her from getting too warm, keeping her nice and cool.

"Molly, look what I found!"

With a sigh and a shake of her head, the girl jogged over to where her brother was kneeling, peering over his shoulder. "You gonna show it to me?" she asked expectantly. There was a long pause where neither moved nor spoke, causing her to worry a bit. "Izak…?"

She leaned down to touch his shoulder, and he jumped, turning around and unleashing a torrent of large, slimy earth worms all over her blouse. Molly let out a squeal, falling back onto her bum while scraping at the disgusting little things. "Izak!" the sister nearly screamed, earning a satisfying cackle from the little devil. With new life, Molly jumped to her feet and took off after her brother.

After a few minutes of chasing him, the boy got smart and took off into the trees that surrounded their quant little community. With a growl of frustration, Molly followed suit, dodging around trees and trading insults with the snot-nosed little monster. Izak was quick, and his smaller frame let him navigate through the more dense areas better than she could.

Finally, they breached yet again through the trees, back out into the open grasslands, and the girl tackled her little brother, landing atop him. He shouted in protest, but Molly held his wriggling form down by his shoulders, pinning him to the earth beneath him. "I'm gonna make you _eat_ worms, you little brat!" Despite his protests and squirming, the boy was laughing, amused greatly by the situation and the successful prank. It was always a good day for younger sibling when they managed to successfully torture their family.

Molly smirked, hopping up off of him. "Just wait until dinner tonight."

The boy hopped up after her, looking offended. "You wouldn't dare," he accused, pointing his finger at her.

"I would so," she corrected him. "And don't you know that it's rude to point, shrimp?"

Izak stuck his tongue out from between his lips, blowing at his sister. "Old bag!"

Molly gasped, face flushing in anger. "I am not an old bag - !" she stopped short, going still, eyes focused at a spot behind her younger brother. Her eyes were focused on the form in the grass, mouth taut, whole body tensed.

The boy was confused, tilting his head. "Molly? What's wrong?"

She almost didn't hear him. Slowly, carefully, the girl gestured towards herself. "Izak, come here sweetie."

The boy wrinkled his nose. "I'm not a sweetie!" To accent his point, the small boy stomped his foot, arms crossing in front of him. She could see it coming, she knew it was about to happen, but her body was too slow to react; there was nothing she could do to keep the form from shooting out and latching onto her brother's thin, frail calf. They both screamed, frightening the creature just enough to cause it to retreat.

Molly grabbed her brother's hand, jerking him up off the ground. She struggled with getting him behind her while her other hand fumbled numbly at her hip, eventually finding the button that she was looking for.

There was a flash of red light.

As it faded, a large blue form stood between them and the massive, coiling black snake. "Marill!" the girl screeched. The thing looked around in confusion, eyes darting between its master, the threat, and the young boy. "It bit Izak," she stuttered out, eyes still wide, her brother cradled in her arms now. The blue creature let out a growl and planted itself firmly in the snake's path.

"Bubblebeam!"

Marill reared its head back for a moment before pointing at its opponent and sending forth a large blast of bubbles. They smacked into the creature, knocking it back and earning a loud and aggravated hiss from it. It launched itself at Marill, bladed tail glowing purple. Molly didn't even have time to tell her Pokemon to dodge the attack; luckily, though, she didn't have to. Marill leapt to the side, sliding away from the attack and launching another blast of bubbles. They scored another direct hit and the snake hissed again, this time turning and streaking away through the tall grass.

The blue creature began to chase it, but Molly called it back. "We don't have time! We have to get Izak back to the house!" Molly began to look around, finally realizing just how far they'd run while playing earlier. In the distance, she could just barely make out the cluster of houses in which they lived. Molly whimpered, shifting her brother slowly to her back. "Izak, Izak baby hold on okay?" Through sniffled the boy wrapped himself tightly around his sister. "I know it hurts, but be strong for me, alright? I'm gonna get you home as fast as I can…"

There was no response except for another sniffle. She was surprised by her little brother's strength; if she had been bitten by something like that at his age she would still be crying. "Marill, watch out for any more wild Pokemon, alright?"

And with that she began the long walk home, toting her brother on her back.

Sometime while they were running the breeze must have died down, because now Molly was very much uncomfortable and there was no touch of wind to redeem her from the heat. The sweat built up as she marched, eyes focusing on the ground just a few steps ahead of her to make sure she didn't trip.

They'd been walking for about ten minutes when her brother's voice came from behind her, barely louder than a whisper. "Do you think Mr. Bobby is cooking…?"

Molly blinked at her brother's odd question, turning slightly to glance back at him. "I dunno, bud. Why are you asking?" He didn't speak, responding instead with a point from over her shoulder. The girl glanced up to see what he was pointing at. It took a second, but then she noticed it: smoke. It was rising slowly from the community they were walking towards. Bobby and Charlotte, their neighbors, sometimes had cookouts in the fire pit in their back yard, but that was a lot of smoke…

The girl's legs began to carry her just a bit faster. "Yeah, Izak, they're probably just cooking," Molly lied.

_Probably just cooking…_


	2. Chapter 2 - Abduction

**A/N: Thank you for coming back! You, who read the first chapter and decided that you wanted more! Please feel free to comment/review; I would absolutely love it. I do not own the pokemon world, obviously, but I do own the original characters seen here. Please enjoy!**

Every step that Molly took solidified the fact that something was wrong. The smoke was too much for a simple cookout; someone's house had to be on fire. Speeding up to a jog, Molly contemplated who's house it might be. Mrs. Gray was always spending so much time on her hair; she probably left her straightener on or something stupid like that.

As she bounced through the grass with her Marill by her side, Izak's arms wrapped tighter around her. She tilted her a bit to get a peak at him through her soft, blond hair. "You okay back there?" The boy nodded, eyes closed. He was sweating a lot; Molly had a feeling that the heat was only partially responsible. Weren't you supposed to ask someone questions when they were in shock? Or was that concussions?

Shit. For once, the girl wished she'd paid more attention to her mother's health classes. Deciding that it couldn't hurt, she cleared her throat, trying to think of things to ask. "Hey Izak, how long until your birthday?" The boy paused, silent for a long time, then shrugged, mumbling something about a few months. She paused, mulling his answer over in her head. She was in the middle of trying to remember just when his birthday actually was when there was a scream.

Molly froze, chills running up her spine. She'd never heard anyone scream like that before; it wasn't a scream of surprise or anger, but of pure terror. There was something awful about the way the sound grated on her ears, and something even worse about the way the scream turned to an abrupt and chilling silence. Somehow the quite after the scream was worse than the scream itself, and Molly found herself wishing that whoever was shouting would start up again, just to fill the haunting silence.

"M… Molly…?"

The voice was soft and weak, just a timid whisper over her shoulder. The girl immediately knelt down, ushering him off of her. She pulled him around in front of her so she could check him over; he was so much worse than she'd thought. He was absolutely drenched in sweat, face pale, body occasionally jerking in small twitches. "Oh my god…"

Embracing her brother, Molly felt the tears start to well up beneath her eyes, building until they finally began to flow down her cheeks, cascading down to her chin where they gathered and then fell in large, full droplets, splattering against the soft fabric of Izak's shirt where they left naught but a dark spot on the green cloth.

Why was this happening?

Why was _any _of this happening?

The fire, the screaming, her brother being bitten…

Molly whimpered softly, hugging her baby brother's limp form tighter to her chest. She needed to get him help, but she was afraid of what could be happening. Was it just a fire? That scream had really set her nerves on end, and the more that Molly looked at the smoke trail ahead, the more it seemed too excessive even for a single house fire.

_What in the hell is happening…?_

Just then she felt a violent shaking against her chest and pulled away, wiping the sweat from her brother's face. He was coughing, hard, barely able to lift his hand to his mouth. "Izak…"

The girl bit her lip softly, trying to be brave. She laid the boy down in the grass, petting his hair out of his face. His eyes were closed and he was whimpering softly, shaking ever so slightly. She had to get him help. Molly stood slowly, a resolution building. "Marill, protect him with your life until I get back." The blue creature gave a sort of salute, the best it could manage with its tiny forelimbs.

Turning, Molly began to run, quickly breaking into a sprint while her eyes continued to fill with tears. The girl could barely see where she was running, but it wasn't a hard journey, just a straight line…

Right into the mouth of hell.

As Molly got close enough to her home, she could tell something awful just by the sounds coming from the small village. It was a sound she knew well on a smaller scale, but nothing like this. The soft crackle of flames had given way to the roar of a blazing inferno, much louder than something completely ethereal had any business being.

Columns of smoke rose into the air in every direction, but she didn't dare stop; she had to find her parents. The thick, black substance filled the air, making everything putrid, unbreathable. It was awful; she couldn't see, her chest hurt… the girl cried out for someone, for her mother, her father, for anyone, but all she could hear was the roaring of that goddamned flame coming from every direction, blocking out even the sound of her own screams as she collapsed to the ground, coughing and gagging, sucking in the cooler, wetter air next to the ground.

"Why…"

What had she done to deserve this? What could she possibly have done to attract the universe's attention and warrant this awful punch to the face? Her brother was dying on the ground while she crawled around through the ashes of her home town.

The heat was unbearable, and the longer that she was there the harder it got to breathe. Fire burned off of oxygen, and it seemed that it was running thin in the middle of the burning village. Molly sighed, collapsing softly into the ground beneath her, blades of grass tickling her face lightly. She turned her head to the side, eyes searching for any sign of hope and when she found none, well…

She gave up.

Just as consciousness was beginning to fade from her, there was a sharp pain in her side and she was forcefully rolled onto her back. She squinted up through the smoke but could see nothing but shadows. They got closer, forms becoming something roughly human.

"Looks like this one's still alive."

"How the fuck did we miss her?"

There was a pause, something touched her cheek, something rough. "What do we do with her?" She couldn't make out the next thing said, but she was vaguely aware of her shirt being moved. She began to fight it, but before she could even make herself move she was being lifted into the air, body going limp.

Just before unconsciousness claimed her, Molly heard a harsh voice call out from somewhere nearby. "She's… might as well…with us."

"You're… time…"

"It's not like… hurt…"

"It's… call…"

"…"

And darkness took her.

A/N: Okay, hope you liked it and remember, please leave a review with any comments you have. I'd love to hear a bit of input from you guys. And if you really liked it, then make sure to let me know so I'll have the motivation to write more.


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